Government Expects to Complete Processes for 5G Spectrum Auction by August 2019

The government expects to complete processes for 5G spectrum auction by August and the services will be rolled out by 2020, Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said Monday. “Trai has given a preliminary set of recommendations, which the working committee at the Department of Telecommunications is looking at. Task force has also given a broader set of (spectrum) bands on which we have to work. Everybody has said that since the ecosystem is not ready, 5G will be ready after July-August next year,” Sundararajan told reporters on the sidelines of a workshop with states and Union territories.

Amid a raging financial crisis in the industry, India’s largest telecom operator Vodafone Idea has urged the telecom department not to hold spectrum auction till 2020 on the grounds that fresh need for quality radio waves will arise only once the 5G ecosystem is ready.

“We expect to complete the due procedure by then (July-August 2019). I cannot say whether it (spectrum auction) will happen by then, but we will be ready post-second half of 2020. When we say 2020, it doesn’t mean the whole country will have 5G but it will start. Field trials are going on,” Sundararajan said.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Sunday recommended an auction of about 8,644 MHz of telecom frequencies at an estimated total base price of Rs 4.9 lakh crore, which includes radio waves for 5G services. The 5G committee of the telecom ministry has said about 6,000 Mhz of spectrum can be made available without delay for the next generation mobile service.

The panel has spotted spectrum for 5G services across 11 bands, of which four bands — premium 700 Mhz band, 3.5 gigahertz (Ghz), 24 Ghz and 28 Ghz band — can be made immediately available for the service.

During her speech at the workshop on the implementation of the National Digital Communications Policy, Sundararajan said that the rollout of 5G services in the country would have an impact of USD 1 trillion on the economy. The workshop was attended by most of the states and Union territories.

Reported By

Must Read

HMD Global has started sending out media invites for an event in India scheduled to be on December 6. The Finnish giant is expected to launch the much-awaited Nokia X7 global variant, the Nokia 8.1 in the country. This event

Trying to unify its tariff lineup, Idea Cellular which merged with Vodafone India has now come up with a prepaid recharge of Rs 189 which offers benefits for 56 days. To recall, Vodafone also introduced the same plan a couple

Idea Cellular, one of the leading telecom operators in India, has launched its 4G services in Srinagar. Ever since the launch of 4G services in Jammu earlier this year, Idea has rapidly expanded coverage and its 4G services are now

Recent News

Samsung is all set to launch Galaxy S10 series of phones on February 20 right before Mobile World Congress which kicks off a week later. As far as the rumours are concerned, Samsung is likely to launch three phones under

Vodafone after its merger with Idea Cellular has definitely increased its capex and is moving ahead with intensity to counter the competition in the telecom playing field. However, the introduction of the minimum recharge plans has triggered a subscriber fallout

Last year Asus debuted one of its most prominent offerings in India, the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1. The phone went on to witness massive sales and became one of the highest selling mid-range smartphones in India. Asus has also

Leave a Reply

5 Comments on "Government Expects to Complete Processes for 5G Spectrum Auction by August 2019"

Sort by:
newest |
oldest

Thamilan daa

December 17, 2018 10:37 pm 10:37 PM

Each and every user will not get even true 3G speed (42 Mbps download and 5.76 Mbps upload) even if 10G comes to India. I challenge this.

ReplyHide Replies ∧

Kiran Fernandes | Goa

December 17, 2018 11:21 pm 11:21 PM

Nobody is interested in your challenge.

ReplyHide Replies ∧

Sayak Roy - Kolkata

December 18, 2018 10:43 am 10:43 AM

LOL best comment ever!

Reply

Thamilan daa

December 17, 2018 10:36 pm 10:36 PM

Prediction :

Lol. By then Japan would have got any one of the following permission 1) to test 6G OR 2) 6G auction

ReplyHide Replies ∧

KARTHIK

December 17, 2018 4:58 pm 4:58 PM

Any Generation(4G/5G/6G) can come. These operators(Airtel , Vodafone-Idea JIO,BSNL) should realize that their AGR(Average gross revenue) depends on their Customer’s loyalty . Customer will be loyal to their operators only when the Operators are loyal(Best Service , Best Network ) to their customers. Until then cheap plans , Looting etc will happen .